Session 027:

August 9th, 2021 @6:30pm-

General Summary

General Summary

Going for a Walk

Having travelled with the party in the wagon, Vex woke up much, much later than originally intended, having been so worn out from his Bloodgorger's frenzy that he was accidentally flirting with death in a short coma. In this way, he climbs free of the circus wagon and peers into the valley. With no note left to inform him of what happened or where anyone was, he had to infer that they must have reached the city that the party suspected Alize of being held. Pulling a tarp from the wagon, he attempted to wrap his tail around his torso and fashion the tarp into a cape. Of course, this didn't go over nearly as well as intended, but the patch job would work so long as it was he was not put under scrutiny. 
Carefully, he takes the most eastern road into the city, travelling through the outer shantytowns towards the East Gate. Finding a line of people waiting at the gate for inspection and entry, Vex immediately tries to divert away from the crowd, searching out a wagon or something that he could potentially hide in, under, or around. Finding a covered wagon, he tries to slide up behind it in line, trying to play himself off as being part of their entourage. Peering inside, he notices the wagon to be full of metal crates labelled, "Warning: Handle with care // Hazardous." Unable to climb inside without removing cargo, he redirects his focus to the gate, finding that the wagons themselves are being passed off to the guards, rather than the citizens cleared through identification being allowed inside. Because of this, Vex works to wedge himself into the crate, aiming to hide as well as he possibly can. The closer he gets, the more he's able to hear, including a few short arguments about miners being refused entry to the city because, though they are Kingdom citizens, they are not Ordhull citizens. 
Once through, Vex pauses for a few minutes before tumbling out of the crate unnoticed. Though his descent is graceless, he manages to find himself in what appears to be a factory district. A dwarf runs up to him shortly thereafter, checking to make sure that he is alright and asking if he's been drinking on the job. Surprised to find a non-human humanoid, he takes a look around to find a mixture of sentient races working in the district and even openly socializing. Stumbling over his words, now, he assures the dwarf that he's not been drinking but merely tripped over his own feet. He states that he's from the day shift but apparently hit his head or something, leaving him woozy, and thus asks if he could be pointed to where he might be heading for the night. The dwarf states that he's likely staying in New Downtown and directs him towards a bridge to the south, wherein he ends up showing him the way. Of course, this becomes a problem when they reach the bridge, which acts as a district checkpoint requiring IDs. Vex instantly begins panting around on himself frantically before turning to the dwarf and stating that he must have dropped his card when he stumbled. The dwarf instantly covers for him, letting the guards know that he thinks the man to have been drinking and that he's escorting him home for a lecture, using his own good standing with the guards to get them through. Almost as soon as they are out of earshot, he confronts Vex about his likely stance as actually being a fugitive, to which Vex agrees sheepishly. Shaking his head, he leads Vex then to a forger in the lower New Downtown market area. 
Reaching a door at the end of an alley, the dwarf gets the attention of the Orc within, who groggily complains about the time, only to be called out for having slept the day away. He states that it has been a long day, where he had made some product earlier in the day, and welcomes Vex inside with the promise of a discount, since he's recently come into some new blanks for the job. Handing him a form, he sets about starting up his work. He checks to see whether the lizardfolk would like a warhouse district ID or a manufacturing district ID, to which Vex defers to the dwarf that led him there. Vex agrees to a warehouse ID, and the dwarf states that he knows someone in the designated district that could give him a job. 500GP and an hour later, the orc returns with a fresh ID. The card makes Vex tingle, and he inquires as to its make-up, learning that the IDs are made of Woffrite. Now in the clear as far as cards go, he pulls the makeshift cloak off and sets it aside, and the dwarf inquires as to whether or not he has a place to stay. Vex confirms that he does not, and the dwarf leads him to "The Copper Spring," an Inn & Tavern in the same district. Leading him inside, he calls the half-elf tavern maid that seems less than thrilled to see him. She states that she just got two other newcomers in, she shakes his head and her and the dwarf banter briefly, leaving Vex in an awkward social situation. The half-elf informs him that the room will be 1GP/night, filling out the records with Vex's new ID and informing him that their is an Inquisitor in the city. "Fancier tricks" are thereby discouraged. As he makes his way up the stairs, he sees two familiar faces, Cyrus and Slab coming out of their own rooms.

Together Again

With Cyrus and Slab having just located the rest of the party, the trio meet up in the hallway. With Slab appearing now as the most handsome version of himself that either of them have ever seen, Slab and Cyrus bicker over the change lightly while Vex merely shrugs and says that he looks pretty good. After filling Vex in on what they've found, with Cyrus having hidden away his decommissioned warforged, they inform him that they know where the other four party members are and that they were just on their way to meet back up with them. Using their Warehouse District IDs, the trio get themselves through and into the warehouse district, using the general location ping to make their way towards the others. Turning a corner, the three of them notice a large outpost that looks very much like the one previously seen in their mirror. With a set of four guards by the warehouse side entrance and others patrolling or otherwise walking around, it is clear enough that this is a well fortified area that has recently dealt with the Corruption Rain.

Meanwhile, back at the infirmary...

With little else to do besides wait out Captain Astri's plan and convince the nurse bot that he was fine, the party is left in relative boredom. Emyr, Lavug, and Leonore wait for either the Captain or their "boss." After much persuasion and eventually forceful intervention, Duul finally gets CURE-3 to stop trying to bandage him, informing her that he is just fine and suffered minimal injury. If nothing else, he will certainly live, though his temper with the warforged was wearing thin. 

Questionable Circumstances

Slab approaches the guards and states that they're there to pick up their boss, Ourse, much to the confusion of the guards out front. They tell the trio to inform the guards at the front desk what they're there for. They are greeted by a collection of guards, including the captain and a warforged, where they provide her with their identification cards, much to her surprise. Finding them to be strangely in order, she inquires as to where they were during the explosion. Cyrus informs her that they had gotten separated and that the rest of them had been making their way back to the inn by that time, having heard a loud noise somewhere behind them but being unaware of its source. With this, the captain leads them up to the infirmary and requests that they all sit tight while she verifies their stories. 
With everyone back together, Duul decides to ask, now, what Leonore had handed the captain. He informs her that he handed off his signet ring, as the ruler of the city was a friend of his father's. This causes Duul a reasonable amount of distress, though the rest of the party seems otherwise resigned and calm, opting to work through with the cards they've been dealt. After a while longer, the captain returns, leaving them to have to deal with precisely that as she brings with her the honorable Margrave Nexus. Cyrus immediately recognizes the name as being associated with the local water filtration technologies. Proceeding on from this, he addresses Leonore, stating that he looks very much like his father did at his age. Leonore let's him know that they are looking for Alize, whom the Margrave confirms appears to be at one of the city's labor camps. The Margrave does, however, inform him that if he were a proper man of the law and noble of their kingdom, he would turn them in promptly or else kill him where he stands. Leonore refutes this, as he clearly has no love for the current rulership, and neither does the rulership appear to be granting the city any real good fortune or aid. This is confirmed, as the current king's arrangements have forced jobs out of the city's hands and into the labor camps, forcing the scales of their agreement such that the city isn't receiving nearly enough aid or work to properly fend for itself, rendering them crippled and under the thumb of monarch rulership. Other than the agreement of aid, should Leonore take the crown, Cyrus offers to cast Plant Growth as much as he feasibly could, though each round would require eight hours to cast. While grateful, this would put the city further at risk, as the magic and miracle of such a thing would be impossible to hide, especially with an Inquisitor in town.
At this, the Margrave offers them a proposal: he can help them locate Aliz, under the condition that the party make their rescue mission cause as much uproar within the labor camp(s) as feasibly possible. With this, he plans to make the Kingdom's men seem as inept as possible, in a political move to regain as much control of his own city as possible. Having consulted with the group and getting as much approval as they are willing to grant, as it is his decision to make, the young prince and the noblemen strike a bargain. The Margrave makes the plan to have Aliz under as little guard as he can manage, as well as to help smuggle their equipment into the camp by wagon. 
H1 - Let's Start a Riot!
sabotage guard food sabotage armory organize riot to go off all at once
emyr suggests donning prison guard attire and simply walking out, making the guards appear as sympathizers
magic can be cast outside the city walls but not within them; outsiders are outside the walls for a reason, as foreigners should not be allowed in... but clearly their systems are flawed 
H2 - Step One, Infiltration Leonore & Emyr - kingdom guards Cyrus - animal form Duul, Lavug, Slab, & Vex - prisoners
The labor camp in question is used for high profile enemies of the crown, giving it more security, and thus more reason for new guards to be transferring in. As the "new blood" enter the camp, they find a red-headed, middle aged woman, who tells them that everyone needs to stay in line and there will be no problems. With their gear in a marked wheel barrel...

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Rewards Granted

Vex:
-501GP
+1 Warehouse District Worker's ID Forgery, Woffrite

Character(s) interacted with

Concerned dwarf foreman(?)
Orc forger Card Maker
The Copper Spring tavernmaid
too many Ordhull guards
CURE-3
Mr. Help
Margrave Nexus

Report Date

09 Aug 2021

Primary Location

Ordhull